Glitch causing unmailed Nevada ballots to show up as counted identified, fixes ‘in progress’
UPDATE: The Nevada Secretary of State’s Office issued a statement to the 8 News Now Investigators Monday evening saying it is confident that all issues related to “erroneous vote history” have been identified and are in the process of being fixed.
Here is the full statement:
“After working closely with Nevada’s county clerks, registrars, and their IT staff, the Nevada Secretary of State’s office is confident that all issues related to erroneous vote history have been identified and fixes are in progress. The issue was as follows: on a nightly basis, each county uploads their voter registration data to the Secretary of State’s database, which executes code to create the single statewide voter registration file that users see when they log into vote.nv.gov. The legacy systems used by a number of the counties require additional steps be taken to ensure that voters who did not return their ballot do not have vote history; some of those steps were not taken, which resulted in inaccurate data. Our office has been validating new files from each county and moving them into production as soon as the accuracy of the data is verified. Some counties may not see updates until after the nightly file upload, but if counties have taken the appropriate steps all voter data should be accurate within 48 hours. A comprehensive report will be provided as soon as is practicable.
Again, this is an error that relates to the code used for when a voter is sent a mail ballot and does not return it; it has no connection in any way to vote tabulation. The top-down Voter Registration and Election Management System (VREMS) project at the Secretary of State’s office will go live prior to the June 2024 election, and remove the need for these outdated processes.”
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A technical issue was causing primary mail-in ballots across Nevada to show as counted when voters had not mailed their ballots or voted at all, the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office confirmed Monday to 8 News Now.
The voter history glitch had nothing to do with vote tabulation, which happens at the county level.
President Joe Biden won the Nevada Democratic presidential primary earlier this month. The Republican side went to “none of these candidates” without former President Donald Trump on the ballot. Trump later won the party-sanctioned caucus.
County clerks had mailed ballots for the primaries to those registered as Democrat or Republican and who requested them or had not opted out. Over the weekend, several people emailed 8 News Now, saying though they never voted by mail or voted in the primary at all, the state’s online system showed their ballot was counted.
“On Sunday, February 18, the Secretary of State’s Office became aware of possible technical issues related to the vote history of individuals who did not participate in the Presidential Preference Primary,” a spokesperson said. “Elections and IT staff began working on the issue immediately, and met with county clerks and registrars this morning. We are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible, and will provide further updates as we can.”
The technical glitch does not alter the primary results.
Citing 8 News Now’s reporting, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo tweeted: “[The Nevada Secretary of State’s Office] is working diligently to resolve the issue with their website. As the article below highlights, the voter history glitch on the website does not impact vote tabulation, which happens at the county level.”
Nevada is one of several states with universal mail balloting. Voters can choose to vote in person or by mail early or in person on Election Day. Registered voters can also opt out of receiving a mail-in ballot if they wish.
Voters can review their voting history on the secretary of state’s website and also opt in or opt out of voting by mail.
Trump was not on the Republican primary ballot as Nevada GOP leadership had said only the caucus winner would receive delegates, which would go toward the national nominating convention.
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